Man charged with assaulting officer

An abandoned 911 call landed a local man in court for charges of assaulting a peace officer.

Brian Ey appeared in court Wednesday on two charges of willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer and two charges of assaulting a peace officer.

Campbell River RCMP’s Const. Roff Polsky appeared in court as a Crown witness.

He told court that he and Const. Keeley Deley went out to a trailer at 3782 Stokes Pl. shortly after 6 p.m. on Nov. 8 2010, after a 911 dispatcher received an abandoned 911 call.

Polsky said that when the officers pulled up there was a large window and he saw a man who looked “agitated” inside. He later pointed out Ey in court when asked if he saw the man in question in the room.

They went to the entrance of the trailer and the door was ajar, Polsky told court.

“I heard yelling from inside the trailer,” Polsky said. He added that Ey became “enraged” when he saw the police officers. “I can say that that was one of the angriest people I’ve ever met.

“I felt that he was about to attack me.”

Polsky told court that he tried to arrest Ey and a struggle ensued. Another man was in the trailer, but did not get involved.

“He was writhing and doing anything to get away from us,” Polsky told court. “The struggle that we had with this male was so intense.”

Polsky said the incident happened fast, but he estimated it took a few minutes to get the handcuffs on him. Another officer who was off duty and catching a ride in Deley’s car came to assist them, but Ey was hand cuffed by Polsky and Deley, Polsky told court.

Defense attorney Angie Penhall suggested that when the officers first showed up the television was on loud and the two men were simply talking, not yelling.

Polsky told court he heard yelling, but described it as seeing Ey’s mouth moving and his arm moving upwards in an agitated manner.

During Penhall’s cross examination, Polsky told court the off duty officer kneed Ey in the groin after he was hand cuffed and still resisting. Penhall asked for a Stay of Proceedings on the charges saying Ey’s charter rights were violated when he was kept in cells for too long after his arrest. She also said the defense had a case whether or not it was found that Ey’s charter rights were violated.

However, Polsky told court that his involvement in the matter ended when Ey was taken to cells so he did not know how long Ey was in cells for. He said Deley had followed the case further.

Deley could not be in court because she is on medical leave, and Judge Thomas Dohm adjourned the trial because he said more witnesses or information on how long Ey remained in cells is necessary for the trial to continue and to determine if Ey’s charter rights were violated. Ey did not take the stand on Wednesday.